....and for Muppet Vision 3D to stay open, and for all of the Disney executives who had anything to do with both of those moronic decisions to be abducted by aliens.
Re-branding a rollercoaster with the Muppets to offset the closure of Muppet Vision 3D is akin to throwing table scraps at Muppets fans. It also reminds me of the heartless profiteering Dan Ackroyd character on Saturday Night Live selling his "bag of glass for the kids". Though I guess these are the type of decisions that are made when you have a mouse-sized brain!
Why did Disney buy the Muppets if they're just going to tear down everything that's good about the franchise? Nobody, and I mean nobody at all had anything bad to say about Muppets Mayhem, everybody loved it and said that it felt just like the classic Jim Henson era Muppets, which is likely why it won an Emmy Award in 2023! In fact, the only people who I've ever heard say anything bad about the show are the folks in charge at Disney! Granted, they never made a public statement to explain why they made that decision, but their actions speak loudly enough.
Cancelling the second season and refusing to see if the show can grow and gain a broader fan base is just pure illogical stupidity! Muppets Mayhem is simply the best thing that happened to the Muppets since the Muppet Show was cancelled, and yet Disney doesn't clue into that? It just shows crystal clear how out of touch the Disney folks are with their own audience to be so clueless!
As for Muppet Vision 3D, that is Jim Henson's legacy project. It's the last film he performed Kermit the Frog in and the last major project that he completed before his unexpected passing on May 16th 1990. It's a shrine to the man that Muppet fans idolize and a historical landmark for Muppet lovers of all ages all over the world. Tearing that monument down is not only shameful and wrong, it's just simply heartless and moronic!
Do the folks at Disney actually think that the characters from Monsters Inc. are beloved all over the world more than the Muppets? Those characters don't even come close to the international following and instant recognition that the Muppets have. I haven't even seen the sequel to the first Monsters Inc. movie and I wasn't planning to. The only reason I watched the first one was because I heard that Frank Oz did a voice for one of the characters.
And that brings up another incredibly stupid decision by the folks at Disney, they don't want to let Frank Oz have creative control of the Muppets. That alone is a huge red flag that tells the world that the Disney executives are totally and utterly clueless when it comes to the Muppets.
Let's just say for the sake of argument that the gossip is true and Frank Oz is in fact very difficult and demanding to work with. Well... he certainly has a right to be! He's Frank f*****g Oz for f**k sake! He's literally half of the Muppet franchise! He created not one but THREE of the "big five" Muppet characters that are regularly merchandised. He's also an incredible successful director in his own right, so just give the man the keys and let him do what he wants with the Muppets! It's a no brainer! Let him make a movie that would no doubt become a tribute to the man who was quite possibly his dearest friend in the whole world. Let Jim Henson's comedy partner, the puppeteer who was half of one of the greatest comedy duos on the planet, helm the Muppets once again!
To deny Frank Oz from being at the helm of the Muppets in order to carry on the legacy he created with Jim Henson is like separating Laurel from Hardy and preventing them from working together. Why would anyone do such a thing? Such a mindset runs contrary to being in the entertainment industry in the first place! To paraphrase, what Disney is essentially saying right now is this: "No, Disney owns the Muppets now, we won't let Frank Oz work with the Muppets!" That colossal error is going to be CEO Bob Iger's dunderheaded legacy!
Mr. Iger, do you want to see the Muppets have a major hit movie? Let Frank Oz show you how it's done! While you're at it, you should scrap your plans to close Muppet Vision 3D and expand on it by building a Muppetland instead, along with producing season 2 of Muppets Mayhem. Stop actively tearing down your own franchise!!!
But I digress, I've only been an obsessed Muppet fan for 47 years, what do I know?
-Mikey
